Interdepartmental Two-photon Imaging Center

描述（由申请人提供）：细胞和分子成像技术正在彻底改变神经科学。在这一领域具有最大潜在影响的技术是“非线性光学显微镜”，它能够以前所未有的空间和时间分辨率对活体组织深处的荧光结构进行双光子成像。将2P成像与电生理学和分子解锁相结合，创造了一种非常强大的工具，对神经科学研究的开展产生了深远的影响。这项修订提案的战略目标是将这项关键技术交给西北大学（NU）的两个高效神经科学家小组，他们每年从NINDS获得近800万美元（直接费用）的资助。其中一个小组专注于研究健康、衰老和疾病中神经元树突的特性；另一个小组主要研究神经干细胞生物学及其在神经再生中的应用。为了最大限度地提高NU和NINDS在这些研究项目上的投资，两组都需要随时访问用户友好的多功能2P成像工作站。为实现这一目标，制定了以下具体目标：进一步表征和优化现有2P成像工作站的性能；2. 通过增加新的硬件和软件功能，集成电生理学和分子解锁功能，扩展现有工作站的功能；3. 建立额外的核心设施，配备2P成像工作站，并为目前无法获得这些资源的NIH资助研究人员提供技术支持；4. 建立基础设施，确保所有核心的安全、高效和生产运作；5. 建立一个以互联网为基础的分发点，以传播有关应用程序、软件和硬件设计/实施的信息。我们聘请了在生产2P工作站方面具有专业知识的合作伙伴Prairie Technologies来帮助实现这些目标。通过建立工业界和研究人员之间的对话，我们希望加速硬件和软件的开发，以最好地满足神经科学社区的需求。这些目标的实现不仅会对国立卫生研究院在北大资助的研究项目产生变革性的影响，而且会显著加快这些技术向更广泛的神经科学界的传播，加快科学发现的步伐，促进神经系统疾病新疗法的发展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cellular and molecular imaging technologies are revolutionizing neuroscience. The technology with the biggest potential impact on this field is "non-linear optical microscopy" which enables two-photon (2P) imaging of fluorescent structures deep in living tissue with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. Combining 2P imaging with electrophysiology and molecular uncaging creates an extraordinarily powerful tool that is having a profound effect on the conduct of neuroscientific study. The strategic goal of this revised proposal is to put this critical technology in the hands of a two highly productive groups of neuroscientists at Northwestern University (NU) that receive nearly $8M/year (direct costs) in funding from NINDS. One of these groups is focused on the properties of neuronal dendrites in health, aging and disease; the other group is focused on neural stem cell biology and its application to neuroregeneration. To maximize the investment of NU and NINDS in these research programs, both groups need ready access to user-friendly, multifunctional 2P imaging workstations. The following specific aims are designed to achieve this goal: 1. to further characterize and optimize the performance of our existing 2P imaging workstations; 2. to extend the capabilities of the existing workstations by adding new hardware and software features integrating electrophysiology and molecular uncaging; 3. to create additional core facilities with 2P imaging workstations and technical support for NIH funded investigators who do not currently have access to these resources; 4. to establish an infrastructure that ensures the safe, efficient and productive operation of all the cores; 5. to create an Internet-based distribution point for dissemination of information about applications, software and hardware design/implementation A corporate partner with expertise in the production of 2P workstations, Prairie Technologies, has been recruited to help achieve these aims. By establishing a dialogue between industry and researchers, we hope to accelerate the development of hardware and software that best meets the needs of the neuroscience community. The attainment of these aims will not only have a transforming impact on the NIH funded research programs at NU but it will significantly accelerate the delivery of these technologies to the broader neuroscience community, quicken the pace of scientific discovery and promote the development of new treatments for neurological disorders.